I spent the month of February, in of 2007, learning to farm organically. I was, almost literally, in la-la land. My hosts Suzanne and Alvaro moved there with their six children after fleeing Chile for political reasons in the 1960’s. The “town” of Lalla, located in a dry area east of the “city” of Launceston, is just an old railroad stop.  Strathewan, the name of the remote Tasmanian farm where I worked, receives mail in “Lalla”-land. This is the epitome of rural Tasmania. But however surreal Strathewan provided a remarkable lesson in advancing sustainability.

One might wonder how I got there, how I came to spend my days waking up at 8 am and going to sleep at 10:30 pm, reading books, getting cooking lessons, and learning about the political history of Chile. Not long after graduating, I found myself adapted to the Tasmanian lifestyle—and sometimes in Lalla I talked to the cows…. and the chickens.

You see, I graduated from Dartmouth with a summer job at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, stayed in Hanover for the fall, and then set off for Australia with my sister and her Australian-American boyfriend in search of a little organic farming. After three weeks in the vicinity of the not-so-exciting or populated Australian capital of Canberra, my companions flew back to the USA. I left the mainland for Tasmania, the “Apple Isle” off the Australia’s southwest coast.

Tasmania’s weather is like California’s—the central valley is dry, hot, and grows much of the food. The island is also beautiful—vineyards are common, large areas of wilderness are preserved, and there are mountains that get snow year-round.

Tasmania is also like New Hampshire and Vermont, in that the people can generally be classified by their relationship to the environment. The “logger-types” harvest trees for their livelihood, supplying much of Australia and the world. The “greenies,” on the other hand, love to protect the wilderness areas from over-logging and over-recreating and restore landscapes. Despite these opposing goals, both groups are doing very well. There are many tree farms and ample logging opportunities, while 36% of the land area is reserved in some way for no or very little development.

I fell on the “greenies” side of things. I paid about $30 USD for a booklet containing descriptions and contact information for well over 3,000 farms in Australia that are organic or organic-minded (i.e. aiming not to use sprays and pesticides, use of  Permaculture methods, or just trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle). After choosing Strathewan for the variety of tasks and its Spanish-speaking hosts, I coordinated a starting date and potential length of stay. For four weeks, Suzanne and Alvaro hosted me through a program called Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF, pronounced like a dog’s “woof”).   The exchange is partially cultural and partially skill-based; the WWOOFer works 4-6 hours a day in exchange for room and board.

I stayed in a one-room cottage about 100 yards away from the main farmhouse where we ate breakfast, lunch, tea, and dinner together. Our foods were all local, and all tasty. Yogurt came from the neighbor’s cows, oatmeal came from oat grains we rolled (flattened) in a mill, and our homemade breads involved lots of random but healthy seeds. We ate Tahini made from unhulled sesame seeds (without their shells removed), which tasted the same, but retained the shells’ many nutrients.

And celery. Did you know celery can actually have a flavor? And that almost the whole stalk is supposed to be green? We ate real celery, not the bland blanched stuff with negative calories that necessitates peanut butter or ranch dip.

I spent many of my afternoons churning compost and other nutrient rich, naturally-found ingredients into the soil. I did my fair share of weeding. I used the shredder, which made yard waste and banana peels into items that compost more quickly. I used a hoe to dig up thistles and ragwort (the latter is apparently deadly to cows). I helped fix the electric fence and move the cows from paddock to paddock. I harvested carrots, artichokes, raspberries, gem squash, cucumber, tomatoes, strawberries, green peppers, and more! And in the most fascinating of all these experiences and revelations, I learned to put my water to many uses. Since all water came from rain, and it rained only once during my stay, I collected water in the shower before it got hot and used it to pre-fill the laundry machine. The plants were watered with non-freshwater.

I was also lucky enough to learn some great nutrition tricks from my hosts. For example, a grain plus a legume (bean) makes a complete protein: rice and beans! And since your body takes a couple days to process animal protein, alternating meat protein days with non-meat protein days helps the digestive system. I learned that sweet potato and kale both contain an absurdly large number of nutrients and are great for the body.

For those looking to experience different ways of living more sustainably, WWOOFing with multiple hosts is a great way to learn a variety of theories and practical skills about better farming, eating, and living habits. The more accessible and mainstream we can make sustainable living habits, the more people will catch on, and the better off we will all be for it

For those interested in pursuing a similar experience, other awesome cultural exchange networks include SERVAS International and CouchSurfing.com.